The present invention relates to wireless communication networks, and more particularly to a method of displaying activity on multiple data channels over a period of time for a communication link.
Wireless operators often need to verify correct communications between a wireless base station and a mobile switching center. Part of this verification involves sensing patterns in actual data that are carried on a communication link. Since these patterns change over time and the data patterns differ between the various data channels being carried at the same time, a convenient method of displaying channel-versus-time-versus-detected pattern is of great use as a high level all-in-one-glance troubleshooting tool.
Control and content data flowing to and from the wireless base station typically is carried on telephone carrier lines which are multi-channel pulse-code modulation (PCM) based communication links, such as T1, E1, etc. Each communication link carries a number of time slots that define the channels, such as 24 for T1, 32 for E1, etc., each of which may contain a distinct data stream. Some of the data streams are voice information from cellular telephones, while other data streams are signaling information that allows the mobile switching center and base station to communicate via one of various protocols. In some cases multiple time slots or channels are used to carry a single data stream, sometimes called a “packet pipe.” Also each time slot may be routed through different paths within the telecommunication carrier network.
If the time slots are routed erroneously or the data carried in each time slot is incorrect, various problems result at the wireless base station. Certain well-known patterns in the data indicate specific problems which may be detected by viewing one or two time slots of data over a short period of time. However other patterns may require a correlation of several time slots over a more extensive period of time.
Presently the wireless operator may “view” this information one time slot or channel at a time by using a test set that displays the activity of a single time slot as a plurality of rapidly flashing lights and that also decodes the data as voice for play over a speaker. More advanced and more expensive equipment additionally may display the data over short periods of time as a series of mostly meaningless hexadecimal digits. Even more advanced equipment, such as protocol analyzers, may decode the protocol and give the user large amounts of detail about the data being carried on the communication link. In these cases the solution provides either too little or too much information of the wrong kind.
What is desired is a method of displaying activity on multiple data channels over a period of time sufficient to detect patterns in the data that are useful as a high level all-in-one-glance trouble shooting tool.